Beliefs through to actions, values through to destiny. But if values become our destiny, what does this mean for the world of work? How can we harness this in recruitment, and assessment?

Many organisations aim to embed their core values into the recruitment process – and are keen to ensure that candidates fit with these values before making a hiring decision. Here at Capp, we partner with organisations who want to ensure they hire talent who will not only perform, but will do so in the right way – aligned to their key values. Below we reflect on this concept of values-based recruitment.

When we behave in line with our values we feel comfortable, energised and draw satisfaction from what we are doing, while if we are required to act against the grain of our values we lose energy and can become de-motivated. This carries with it considerable implications for any recruitment process. We also know that when you assess against values, you assess against the organisational culture. When you get this right and hire talent which shares your organisational values, people stay in post longer, are more engaged, and more productive.

Contrast this with competencies – we know people have the capacity to demonstrate competencies not consistent with their values; and that developing competencies is easier – one can practice over time for example. Developing values and strengths is different; values are deeply embedded for an individual, often depending on one’s background and experience, but not specific to a work environment.

Many of our clients, such as Barclays, make a clear link between their values and the strengths we empower them to assess in their talent selection process. A robust strengths-based approach provides real evidence of ‘behaviours driven by values’. The strengths-based selection process frees candidates from being assessed only what they have done, or can do, and instead allows them to demonstrate what they really want to do – and what they really want to is live and work according to their values.

Do you recruit based on values? Are you confident that your values link to performance? Would you like us to demonstrate how we can empower your organisation to drive selection and development based on your core values? We would love to hear from you. If you would like to hear more about how Capp deliver Values-Based Recruitment please contact Gurpal.Minhas@cappeu.com

It is that time of year again: exam results time. After intense periods of studying, hard work, and persistence towards opening the door to your dreams and aspirations, now comes the time for what feels like Judgement Day.

You open that all-important envelope which contains either the key to unlock the door that you wanted – or – a different key, to a different door!

So whether you are rejoicing because you got the grades you need, or thinking about your next move, hold the thought that it’s what you do from here on that will reveal opportunity and unmask possibility.

We give you three tips below about how to build resilience and maximise this as a springboard for further success.

1. Develop a growth mindset

Do not catastrophise the situation by thinking that all your hopes are shattered forever. They are not! What are the things that you do have within your control that you can influence to find a different route to achieving your goals?

What specific positive skills, attitudes, and behaviours can you leverage? If you’re not sure, ask people that you trust for feedback.

What’s more is that many graduate employers are now increasing their focus on social mobility, embracing a broadened range of knowledge, skills and qualifications when recruiting. Qualifications are no longer the ‘be all and end all’ – watch this space for our case study on the recent success of the Nestlé Fast Start Programme.

2. Re-align with your goals, purpose and network

What meaningful goals have you set for yourself in your career? Maintain a focus on your purpose and goals in life, re-gain your sense of control and power, and carve out a different path forward. Identify who in your network you can draw on for support in the form of a trusted mentor.

It is very easy to just succumb or procrastinate when things do not go as planned, but taking an active approach and bouncing back from a setback will reveal possibilities that you may not ever have imagined.

3. Identify your strengths

Capp’s experience of how successful students rise above the rest is by knowing their strengths. Reflect on when you have been most energised – what specific things were you learning about or doing that would give you an insight into future areas of knowledge and expertise that would play to your strengths?

Increasingly, organisations such as Aviva, Barclays, EY, Morrisons, and Nestlé are assessing graduates using strengths-based recruitment methods. It is crucial that you know your strengths and that you understand them – see www.realise2.com to discover your strengths!

So, if you are holding the key to a different door at any point in your life or career, we congratulate you! For now is the time that extraordinary possibilities can be unmasked before you…

It’s well known that the outcome of a successful selection process is closely related to having a robust, valid and fair assessment methodology. If this is the case, the organisation should have a representative and diverse workforce. But it’s not always guaranteed.

We often see recruiters reflecting at the end of an assessment process about the range and diversity of candidates that they have seen and selected during an assessment process. For most, the results are satisfactory but there is always an innate drive to improve on specific demographics.

For example, many clients we speak to wish to increase the number of BAME candidates applying for their roles. Alternatively, within the Pharma and Engineering industries, we have seen a push to increase the number of female candidates in specific graduate streams.

Over the past eight years we have gathered data on the ways in which a strengths-based approach to recruitment and assessment ensure a diverse range of applicants and recruits. Here are some of our findings:

Improves social mobility; when organisations take a strengths-based assessment approach, we can help ensure that candidates from socially and demographically diverse backgrounds are not disadvantaged on the basis of not having had past employment or access to fewer extra-curricular activities.

Our strengths-based interviews enable assessors to ask a broader range of questions that don’t just rely on work or education-based examples.

Demonstrates no adverse impact; our strengths-based recruitment processes do not disadvantage applicants from either gender, with almost identical proportions of male and female candidates selected after the strengths-based interview proceeding to assessment centres.

Ensures fairness from a gender perspective; our Realise2 data suggests that there are no significant differences between the strengths of males and females. This demonstrates that organisations aren’t focusing on certain strengths that are stereotypically preferred by male or female candidates.

To learn more about how strengths can improve the diversity of your applicants please contact Gurpal Minhas Gurpal.minhas@cappeu.com

With the explosion of technology in today’s recruitment world, organisations are often spoilt for choice. It’s been a year since we introduced the Situational Strengths Test (SST) and with the introduction of gamification and avatar-based screening tools, the world of recruitment is becoming an increasingly exciting place. One of the most hotly contested debates surrounds video interviews. These interviews have increased in popularity and seem to be here to stay; today we discuss the merits of the video interview versus telephone/face-to-face interview screening.

Whilst most candidates provide a good reflection of themselves at telephone/face-to-face interviews, there are most certainly things that recruiters become frustrated with. These include candidate non-attendance, poor telephone line connection, interviewing clearly disengaged candidates and travel/business costs associated for interviews. To help overcome some of these challenges, strengths-based video interviews are a pragmatic and simple solution.

We have partnered with Sonru; an asynchronous video-interviewing supplier where candidates answer a list of questions from the recruiting organisation and the interview is recorded at a place and time that is convenient to the candidate. The recruiter then logs on at their time of choosing and scores the candidate.

1) Capp’s strengths-based interviews assess for a candidate’s passion and motivation rather than just what a candidate simply can do. This increases the calibre of candidates that are selected and the video-interview allows recruiters to assess for these attributes earlier in the selection process.

2) Strengths-based interview assessor training enables recruiters to pick up on subtle emotional clues and body language that cannot be seen in a telephone interview.

3) Capp’s strengths-based interviews don’t include probing questions that you often see in a competency-based interview. The strengths/video combination is therefore more naturally suited when used asynchronously.

4) Candidates AND Assessors can conduct the interview at the time that suits them (within a stipulated time period). This leads to increased convenience, pace and often a lower time-to-hire.

5) Candidate feedback about video interviewing continues to be positive and often reflects well on the hiring organisation. For more information see the Sonru whitepaper here.

So as you think about the next development in your recruitment process, take time to assess how strengths-based video interviews can assist you to conduct best-practice recruitment. It’ll be one method of seeing a candidate’s ability and motivation for wanting to join your organisation.

If you want to see how a strengths-based video interview works in practice, please contact gurpal.minhas@cappeu.com for a demonstration.